


True Love's Mess

by LinetteSQMills



Category: swan queen - Fandom
Genre: F/F, OUAT - Freeform, Once Upon A Time, Swan Queen - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-15
Updated: 2016-01-15
Packaged: 2018-05-14 05:01:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5730400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LinetteSQMills/pseuds/LinetteSQMills
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma gets into a fight with Regina and says many things she regrets. She decides to go to Regina's house to make things right, but finds her asleep. She apologizes anyway, and kisses Regina's forehead on impulse. The next thing she knows, white lights are surrounding her and she isn't the dark one anymore. That can only mean one thing. True Love's Kiss. Now Emma has to disguise herself as the dark one as to keep suspicions away, all on top of finding a way to admit to herself that she's been in love with Regina for as long as she can remember. How can she explain, that after weeks of her family trying to find an answer, She solved the problem overnight? How can she drop the bomb on something so shocking?</p>
            </blockquote>





	True Love's Mess

Emma didn't quite know what she expected, she just knew she had to see her. She couldn't stand leaving things the way she did, and couldn't imagine what Regina must think of her after that. Before she could convince herself to wait until morning, Emma disappeared from her kitchen in a cloud of dark blue smoke, appearing just as instantly in Regina's bedroom.

"Regina, I---" She began speaking before even mustering up the courage to look at the woman. When she did turn around, she found Regina sleeping peacefully, huddled into one corner of the king sized bed. Emma stared for a few minutes too long; noticing the pattern of Regina's breath, her chest rising and falling, and the occasional mumble. She took a step towards the bed. "This is what Regina looks like when she doesn't have a wall up." Emma snapped back into reality, all of a sudden remembering why she came.

She walked until she was right next to Regina's sleeping form, and sat gently next to her. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything that I said tonight... or all day. You do have it in you. You're capable of saving this entire damn town, and maybe that's why I said you weren't. Maybe I hate the way it feels to know that I'm who you have to protect this town against. But whatever reason, I'm sorry. You've gotten people not believing in you for your entire life. You didn't deserve it from me." Emma leaned down, just to get a closer look. Before she could stop herself, she kissed Regina's temple. The entire room emanated a brilliant white light. When the brightness dissipated back into darkness, Emma thought she'd imagined it. She was simply in shock about what she'd done. She hurried away from the bed, out of the room, and down the hall. Her reflection in the Queen's full length mirror stopped her in her tracks at the foot of the stairs. The Dark One slowly looked up, but it was Emma Swan who was staring back.

"What the hell? How..." She tried to poof herself back to her own home, and couldn't. She swung open the front door and ran down the street, stopping only to catch her breath and take in the frigid air. She bent over, resting her hands on her knees as clouds of hot breath appeared in front of her. "The white light," Emma said between shaky breaths, "it was me turning back into the savior."

The next morning, Emma rolled over when she heard the loud and all too familiar buzzing of her alarm. Her eyes widened as they focused on the time. "Oh shit! it's noon?! God, I was supposed to meet them at eleven!" Emma sprang up and began getting ready, only to have what happened the night before hit her like a ton of bricks.

"I can't wear this. I can't be Emma. I'm not supposed to be. They'll want an explanation, and what am I supposed to tell them? My parents and Regina and Hook have been wracking their brains over this for weeks. I can't just tell them I figured it out in one night and not give any details", Emma thought. There was no other way. Emma put her red jacket away, and grabbed her black trenchcoat. She looked in the mirror as she prepared to do her hair, and realized that unless she found a way to tell her family the truth, she could never be herself again. 

Emma walked out of her house, hair slicked back into an immaculate white bun, hands in the pockets of her coat, and black leather pumps noisily tapping on the sidewalk with every step. She strode into Granny's and almost immediately spotted Henry and Snow.

"Henry, mom, I'm so sorry." She walked over to them and hugged Henry before sitting down adjacent to him. "I had a really long night and completely missed my alarm."

"Don't worry, we're used to it." Henry smirked knowingly. "And we think we might have found a recipe for a potion that will fend off the darkness long enough to separate you from it." Emma did her best to look curious, although she was impressed. "Wow, Henry that's amazing. What is it?" Henry smiled and continued. "I thought you'd never ask. Okay, so what the potion technically does is weaken an evil being. Not for a huge amount of time, but we hope it's long enough for mom to do this spell, which separates a villain from a hero." Henry pointed to the spell he was referring to, and Snow walked over to Emma to explain. "I know it's a long shot Emma. It may even weaken your good side. But it may solve this entire mess and Regina has already agreed to try."

Emma tried to absorb all of this information whilst still looking excited and hopeful. She nodded along and took the first possible chance to leave. "That's really great. It's worth a try. Oh, um, speaking of Regina, I have mistakes I need to mend with her. I should go talk to her if she'll listen." She hugged them both and walked to Regina's house and up the spotless walkway. When she was about to knock on the front door, it opened.

"Emma. What are you doing here?" Regina tensed her jaw. She wasn't mad. This was something else. "I... I need to apologize. I didn't mean---" Regina sharply cut her off, pretending not to care. A trademark Regina defense mechanism. "No, you don't need to apologize. You're entitled to your beliefs and hopefully with the spell Henry found, I can prove you wrong. Was that all?" Emma looked into the brunette's eyes. No, she wasn't angry. She was hurt. "Regina, please let me finish. I'm not just sorry because I said those things. I'm sorry because they weren't even true. I do believe in you. You can solve this whole mess. In fact, you're the only one who can." Emma looked down almost immediately following the proclamation, hoping she wasn't as transparent as she felt. "I'm glad to have the renewed vote of confidence. I hope I can live up to it. And I accept your apology." Emma gave a small smile in return and decided to go home. She was getting tired of the act already and hadn't realized before what a toll these shoes took.

When she arrived to her house, she kicked her heels off and looked in the mirror. This wasn't her. "Mom." Emma picked up her gun from the table and spun around to face the source of the voice. Henry appeared from the living room, holding his coat and staring at her like he'd never seen her before. "Oh, Henry!" She stared down at her hand and put the gun back on the table, walking away from it. "Why would you sneak up on me like that? Are you okay? I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. You look like you've seen a ghost."

Henry's voice remained calm yet curious. "Mom, you stained my jacket." Emma cautiously approached him, her eyes examining him to try and understand. "Henry, you aren't making sense--" She was interrupted. "You stained my jacket at Granny's when you hugged me goodbye. With white hairspray. Why are you having to spray your hair white? I thought it came with the territory. And why are you so jumpy that your first idea was to grab your gun? What's going on?"

Emma froze in place. "Henry... We need to talk. Come into the dining room with me." As Henry took a seat, she wondered how on earth she was going to explain this to him. "I went to Regina's house to apologize." Henry looked unimpressed with this explanation. "Yeah, I know. You told us you were going and then you went. How does that explain this?" Emma took a deep breath and continued. "No. I went to Regina's house last night to apologize. She was asleep. But I didn't leave. I apologized and I sat with her. And..." Henry took on a serious look and a tone to match. "And what, mom? What happened last night?" Emma dragged a chair over to Henry and sat right across from him.

"Henry, you have to know I've had feelings for your mom since I came to town. I've never acted on them. I haven't kept anything from you. I just wanted them to go away. But they didn't. They got stronger. And so last night, I kissed her forehead. I just wanted to know what it felt like. I'm sorry if you don't want to hear this. I wouldn't blame you." Emma was stuttering and beating around the bush. She didn't know how to tell him all of this, and for once she wished she'd been honest with him sooner. If Henry didn't look like he'd seen a ghost before, he did now. "Mom, let me get this straight. You kissed mom. On the forehead. After five years of never telling anyone you wanted to, you chose last night to act on your feelings." "Yes. That is what happened." Henry looked into Emma's eyes, waiting for the point of the story, and Emma took the hint. "When I kissed her, the entire room went white. From my experience, it was exactly what it looks like when a curse is broken. I didn't think anything of it. But when I looked in the mirror, I was me again. The darkness was gone. I couldn't use dark magic anymore. I didn't feel angry anymore. I felt free. And I didn't know how to tell anyone so I put this on... and sprayed my hair white."

Henry leaned back in his chair, utterly speechless. He looked like the wind had been knocked out of him. When he finally was able to speak, what came out was nearly a whisper. "You shared a true loves kiss with mom. She's your true love?" Emma hadn't even let herself think it, much less had she said it aloud. "Henry, this complicates so many things. How am I supposed to tell Hook? How am I supposed to tell my parents? How the hell am I supposed to tell Regina? I can't even say it." 

Henry stood up and put his hand on Emma's back as she dropped her head into her hands. "Mom, we'll figure it out. Why don't we go over to her office now? No one else will be there and you can explain. We can find a way to keep it a secret. Or... You could just tell everyone the truth." Emma looked up and shook her head. "No, no, I can't. Not until I have confirmation that it's mutual. Not until I explain. Let's go. Before I change my mind for the millionth time about this."

When they got into Emma's car, Henry realized what she'd said. "Wait, you've considered telling her before now? When?" Emma began driving. "So many times. But the time that stands out the most is when we had to leave Storybrooke. When your mom had to send us away. I really wanted to tell her then, but she was already losing you. I couldn't give her another reason to be heartbroken, and I figured once we crossed that line, I wouldn't remember either. No harm, no foul." By the time Emma was finished explaining, they were parked outside of City Hall.

"You can do this mom. I'll break the ice, and you can explain." Emma took a deep breath, shared a nod with Henry, and opened the door. Her anxiety grew with every step down the hall and towards Regina's double doors. The moment she opened the doors, her heart dropped. This was it. She was currently living the last moments of a life where Regina didn't know Emma was in love with her. 

"Henry, Emma... Come in. Why do you both look like someone died? Are you okay?" Regina rushed over to Henry's side, checking him for any signs of injury. "Mom, no I'm okay I swear. We both are. Mom just has to tell you something important." Regina redirected her attention to Emma, puzzled, as Henry left the room. "Emma?" With one look back at Henry, the blonde began talking before she could back out.

"Regina, I'm not the dark one anymore. The curse is broken." Regina looked perplexed. "What do you mean the curse is broken? I haven't cast the spell yet. I haven't even made the potion." Emma started to shake. "I came to your house last night. To apologize. I felt horrible for saying you didn't have it in you to be a savior. I needed to make things right. But I saw you sleeping, and I sat next to you. You were so beautiful, and I don't know what came over me, but I kissed your forehead. And when I did, the curse broke. White light was everywhere. I was me again. True love's kiss broke the curse. So whether this is one sided or mutual, it was enough to save me. You were enough to save me when nothing else could."

Regina stared at Emma, taking a step closer to her, noticing the real Emma underneath the makeup. "I thought it was a dream. I heard you. You were saying such nice things, and you sat with me and touched my arm. And you kissed my forehead. I remember that." Emma had never been looked at this way before. Regina was trying to hold onto her with her eyes. She didn't know if she could use her hands. They'd never even so much as hugged. Emma started this, and she would have to be the one to ease Regina into it. She took another step closer, and then another. She looked into Regina's eyes and grabbed her waist. "Regina, you are a savior. You saved the savior. In more ways than one."

That was all the incentive Regina needed. She closed the remaining gap between them and put her hands gently on Emma's face. "Emma, are you sure that's what happened? How could I could be your... I swear, if there's some other explanation---" She didn't even notice Emma's face getting closer until soft lips melting into hers stopped her mid-sentence. She melted into the kiss and into Emma's arms. Emma broke the kiss just as gently as she started it. "There is no other explanation for this. Regina Mills, you are the love of my life."

Regina got that look on her face that Emma knew meant she was about to cry. Her mouth spread into a closed smile, and her eyes looked soft. She tilted her head and kissed the blonde once more. "I love you too. Next time you’re scared to tell me something, please don’t take five years.” They both shed a tear and giggled. Emma pushed regina’s hair behind her ear. “Deal.”


End file.
